Community

UMaine homecoming activities and road closures

ORONO, Maine —The University of Maine has begun activities leading up to one of UMaine’s biggest celebratory events – the 2012 Homecoming Weekend, Oct. 19-21.

Thousands of alumni are expected to return to their alma mater to rejoin the campus community for reunions, barbecues, special events, a parade and the 100th home football game with archrival UNH on Saturday.

A complete schedule of events is posted on the UMaine Alumni Association website (www.umainealumni.com/). Blue Skies Ahead parade organizers in the UMaine Division of Student Affairs are advising motorists to avoid the I-95 Exit 191 at Kelley Road to get to the campus between 8:30-10 a.m., because the parade route is from Orono High School along Main Street to College Avenue, and onto campus via Munson Road. Co-organizer Annemarie Reed suggests motorists use I-95 Exit 193 onto Stillwater Avenue to get to College Avenue and use the Long Road entrance. The Munson Road entrance will be closed to traffic during the parade.

Honored Reunion classes this year are the classes of 1972, 1977, 1982, 1987, 2002 and 2007.

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Weekend highlights include 7 p.m. men’s ice hockey games versus St. Lawrence University Friday and Saturday at the Alfond Arena; women’s ice hockey games with University of Connecticut at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; and the annual UMaine-University of New Hampshire football rivalry at noon Saturday. The president of the victorious university traditionally assumes stewardship of the Brice-Cowell Musket until the 2013 UMaine-UNH game.

Other activities include social events, awards, performances, campus tours, a road race, a “Stuff the Bus” food drive, tailgating and the Alumni Association Craft Fair & Maine Marketplace – one of the largest in northern New England with nearly 200 vendors offering a variety of Maine-made crafts – Saturday in the Field House from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.